Ruachology Part 4
One of the best ways to understand the working of the Spirit is to watch, listen and grasp the life that Jesus lived. In our modern day most believers have no problem accepting that Jesus is the Son of God. This was not always true for believers. The writings in the New Testament affirm the divinity of Jesus. But I believe part of the controversy came as a result of those who knew Him and testified of His humanity. Arianism did not hold to the divinity of Jesus and was addressed and condemned at the Council of Nicene in 325 AD.
Because we never knew the man Jesus, and have always been taught the divinity of Jesus, it seems to me that it is easier to believe in His diety. Combine that with the teaching of the New Testament writers about the divinity of Jesus, and the authority of the Word of God we believe in today as orthodox Christians, it seems easy to ascribe to Jesus' divinity. When I teach about the humanity of Jesus today, it seems to me that I get the most pushback from believers. Most Christians do not seek to understand the reasons why they believe the things they believe but rather accept them as truth. Unfortunately, we get some of our most mixed up concepts about theology from the songs that we sing which have no real foundation in the teachings of Scripture. This leads many believers to avoid 'controversial' passages of Scripture such as Heb. 5:8 which says that Jesus learned obedience. Well how can God learn anything? If He does not know and has to learn then how can he be God? And so the controversy arises. But, if Jesus was a human, then it makes sense that he had to learn. What does any of this have to do with the study of the Spirit? Glad you asked! Jesus was the only man, since Adam before the fall, who walked 100 percent filled and in submission to the Spirit of the Father, 100 percent of the time. Why is that important to understand? If he was not a human like us, but was, as God, impervious to temptation and sin, how is it possible for us to relate to Him and He to us? Furthermore, how could he have been tempted and those temptations be real and difficult for Him if He was unable to be tempted as God? There is much more to be said about this subject in a different venue, but here it is important because we can begin to grasp that Jesus heard, felt and was subjected to all the same difficulties, trials and temptations that we are in this life. The difference was that He stayed under the control of the Spirit of God 100 percent of the time. Therefore, studying His life, His actions and His teachings helps us to understand that we, too, can truly walk in the Spirit - that it is possible for us just as demonstrated by the Son of Man. That is the subject of the blog post. We can gain understanding of how to walk in the Spirit and what that looks like as we look to Jesus. Jesus' life and walk become the greatest example of Spirit living we have and a source of great encouragement to us as we seek in live and walk in the Spirit of God
